In Their Own Words

March 26, 1734

One Happy Event and One Tragic Event Recorded

Johann Martin Boltzius was the religious leader of the Salzburgers who emigrated to Georgia in 1734; he kept a journal of their settlement. On this day he recorded one happy event - the naming of their settlement, then one tragic event, an Indian man injuring his wife:

“…It is a great Pleasure to us, that Mr. Oglethorpe approved of our calling the River, and the Place where our Houses are to be built, Ebenezer…”

“…This Afternoon, an Indian Man, that is married, cut Both Ears and Hair off from an Indian Woman, his Wife, for being too familiar with a white man. …”

Source: Our First Visit in America: Early Reports from the Colony of Georgia, 1732-1740 (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1974), p. 66.